Passage

Isaiah 11.15

Book: Isaiah · ASV

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"13. The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and they that vex Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim. 14. And they shall fly down upon the shoulder of the Philistines on the west; together shall they despoil the children of the east: they shall put forth their hand upon Edom and Moab; and the children of Ammon shall obey them."

"15. And Jehovah will utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with his scorching wind will he wave his hand over the River, and will smite it into seven streams, and cause men to march over dryshod."

"16. And there shall be a highway for the remnant of his people, that shall remain, from Assyria; like as there was for Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt." (Isaiah 11:13-16, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"13. The envy also of Ephraim will depart, and those who persecute Judah will be cut off. Ephraim won’t envy Judah, and Judah won’t persecute Ephraim. 14. They will fly down on the shoulders of the Philistines on the west. Together they will plunder the children of the east. They will extend their power over Edom and Moab, and the children of Ammon will obey them."

"15. Yahweh will utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with his scorching wind he will wave his hand over the River, and will split it into seven streams, and cause men to march over in sandals."

"16. There will be a highway for the remnant that is left of his people from Assyria, like there was for Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt." (Isaiah 11:13-16, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"13. The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim. 14. But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the west; they shall spoil them of the east together: they shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab; and the children of Ammon shall obey them. ^{them of: Heb. the children of} ^{they shall lay: Heb. Edom and Moab shall be the laying on of their hand} ^{shall obey: Heb. their obedience}"

"15. And the LORD shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with his mighty wind shall he shake his hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make men go over dryshod. ^{dryshod: Heb. in shoes}"

"16. And there shall be an highway for the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria; like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt." (Isaiah 11:13-16, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"13. And turned aside hath the envy of Ephraim, And the adversaries of Judah are cut off, Ephraim doth not envy Judah, And Judah doth not distress Ephraim. 14. And they have flown on the shoulder of the Philistines westward, Together they spoil the sons of the east, Edom and Moab sending forth their hand, And sons of Ammon obeying them."

"15. And Jehovah hath devoted to destruction The tongue of the sea of Egypt, And hath waved His hand over the river, In the terror of his wind, And hath smitten it at the seven streams, And hath caused [men] to tread [it] with shoes."

"16. And there hath been a highway, For the remnant of His people that is left, from Asshur, As there was for Israel in the day of his coming up out of the land of Egypt!" (Isaiah 11:13-16, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: Isaiah, in the eschatological-restoration vision of Isa 11
Audience: Judah and Jerusalem; eschatologically, all the remnant gathered out of the nations
Location: Jerusalem; eschatologically, the regathered-people
Time period: 8th century BC composition; eschatological-restoration horizon

Theological reading

Isa 11 is the shoot-from-Jesse / Spirit-anointed-Messiah chapter (vv. 1-9) that closes with the eschatological-second-Exodus regathering (vv. 10-16). V. 15 deploys [[H2763 - charam|charam]] in its eschatological-mode: YHWH Himself is the subject, and the tongue of the Egyptian sea (the Gulf of Suez extension) is the object, what was historically divided at the Red Sea (Ex 14) is now cherem-ed altogether, eliminated as obstacle to the eschatological-Exodus return. The verse pairs naturally with v. 16's "highway for the remnant" in the second-Exodus motif (compare Isa 35:8; 40:3-5; 43:16-21; 49:11; 51:9-11; 62:10; Jer 31:21). The deployment marks two theologically-significant features. (1) YHWH as direct executor: the conquest-mode charam was Israel-as-instrument under YHWH's command; the eschatological-mode is YHWH-as-direct-executor without instrumental mediation, the same shift the divine-warrior motif tracks across Isa 13; 34; 63:1-6; Zech 14; Rev 19. (2) Geographical-obstacle as object: the charam applies not to a people but to a body-of-water (the tongue of the Egyptian sea) and a river (the River, the Euphrates); the eschatological-charam targets whatever stands between the remnant and homecoming, not a hostile-people specifically. The eschatological-deployment of charam threads forward through Isa 34:2-5 (judgment-on-nations); Jer 25:9; 50:21, 26; into Mal 4:6's closing-word; and ultimately into Pauline anathema (Rom 9:3; 1 Cor 16:22; Gal 1:8-9) and the patristic-conciliar-anathema tradition.

Key words

H2763 - charam, ve-heḥerim, the charam in YHWH's hand at the eschatological-second-Exodus.

Quoted in

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.